March 29, 2024

Colfax-Mingo looks at graduation options

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While the Colfax-Mingo High School wasn’t able to have its normal graduation celebration, there has been talks about how to best proceed moving forward to give seniors that experience while also remaining safe with social distancing guidelines.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, having a graduation seems like a daunting task. The traditional ceremony could not take place on its original date leading C-M school staff and board to discuss possible dates and times for an alternative ceremony.

“We are going to be talking about how to do graduation with social distancing which will not be easy to do,” CM high school principal Todd Jones.

As of right now the plan is to try and see if a secondary date of June 20 would be able to work. Right now the focus is on how to have a graduation while also adhering to social distancing guidelines.

“I have gone through and I have done some calculations in the gymnasium and we may have to have the potential for a couple or three different ceremonies in the course of a day just to be able to make that work,” Jones said.

If it is decided that June 20 will also not work for a graduation ceremony the next date after that would be July 11. There were questions about whether the football field could be used to hold graduation since there is more space for people.

“If it rains we have to walk away that day because we won’t be able to go into the gym and social distance,” Jones said.

To break it down further Jones said he can currently fit 30 students on the gym floor, which takes up the entire floor, and 72 adults in the bleachers while following social distancing guidelines. Jones said while the football field isn’t out of the question it would make it so that if the weather wasn’t suitable they couldn’t fit all of those people in the gym.

There was discussion about the possibility of sharing the business officer 20 percent of the time with another district. Superintendent Erik Anderson said that with the current project on the horizon as well as the ongoing pandemic he did have concerns.

“I’m a little concerned with not having our business officer here one of five days a week,” Anderson said.

The general consensus of the board was that sharing the business officer at this time wouldn’t be in the best interest of the school district. With the current coronavirus pandemic going on and the coming undertaking of the current projects it would be best to not share the business officer.

“That is a very important job to be moving around I think,” board member Chet Williams said.

In other business:

• The Colfax-Mingo School board recently took its groundbreaking photo for the beginning of the of the athletic complex project. Elder Corporation has began removing some trees and prepping the ground. The project is scheduled to be completed in the Fall of 2021. This is just the beginning as more planning and designing will take place in the coming months.

Contact Dustin Teays at 641-792-3121 ext. 6533 or dteays@newtondailynews.com